INDEPENDENT PHARMACIES WARM UP TO GENERICS

The nation's independent pharmacists are growing increasingly comfortable dispensinglower-cost generic drugs—a trend that was confirmed by the results of thelatest NCPA [National Community Pharmacists Association]-Pfizer Digest. Accordingto the new study, 56% of medications dispensed by independent pharmacies last yearwere generics, up from 53% in 2004.

The new digest figures indicate that the average independent community pharmacydispensed 35,560 generic prescriptions in 2005, an increase of 12.9% over the year before.In contrast, the number of prescriptions filled with brand name drugs by independentpharmacies showed no increase during the past year.

Despite the heavier emphasis on lower-priced generic drugs, total prescription dollarsales at the average independent community pharmacy rose to $3.67 million in 2005, upby nearly 12% from $3.28 million in 2004.